RPI Logan Gaddar, left, defended by St. Lawrence's Leondre Simmon can't come down with the ball during their college football game on Saturday Oct. 11, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

RPI Logan Gaddar, left, defended by St. Lawrence's Leondre Simmon can't come down with the ball during their college football game on Saturday Oct. 11, 2014 in Troy, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

RPI played its 1,000th football game on Saturday. Unfortunately, it probably wasn't too much different in some ways from the first one played against Ridgefield Athletic Club on Oct. 23, 1886.

The Engineers lost 25-0 128 years ago. This time they only bowed to St. Lawrence 24-10 but it wasn't nearly as close as the final score.

RPI seemed doomed when starting quarterback Jeff Avery left the game in the second quarter with a shoulder injury. Departing with him went any hope of a passing attack as the Engineers' offense turned one dimensional in a hurry.

Sophomore Tommy Morgan replaced Avery but can't be blamed for the feeble flight of the forward pass. RPI completed just one of them, for a mere nine yards, until just less than three minutes remained in the game.

Not surprisingly the Engineers dropped their first Liberty League game of the season and fell to 4-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.

"Obviously we had to go to our backup (quarterback)," RPI coach Ralph Isernia. "He doesn't get as many reps in practice. It's obvious. I think the game was a little too fast for him in the beginning."

Probably not too different from 1886 with the leather helmets and avoidance of putting the ball into the air. Making it worse was the presence of Mike Lefflbine, quarterback for St. Lawrence. He came into the game leading the league in most major passing categories and padded those stats, throwing for 223 yards with three touchdowns. "He's the real deal," Isernia said. "I hope he's a senior." (He is).

So the Saints (3-0, 5-1) had their way throughout the contest, compiling 377 yards of offense and taking advantage of four RPI turnovers to grease the skids further.

"I think they had our number but we were battling," RPI safety Connor Young said. "By the fourth quarter, it was obvious, though. It is what it is at that point."

The senior, a former standout at Burnt Hills, led the Engineers with 11 tackles.

"We're going to wake up tomorrow morning, watch some films and put it behind us," he said.

To Morgan's credit, he found his rhythm late in the game with RPI trailing 24-3. He connected with Austin Amery on a 60-yard pass and shortly later found Joey Giacone on a 31-yard touchdown pass. Both those plays came with just more than two minutes remaining.

"I thought we could have made a better showing of it," Isernia said. "It wasn't from a lack of effort. It was from a lack of execution."

And when the Engineers began turning over the ball, the writing was on the wall.

"It was just a matter of time. That was something we needed to avoid," Isernia said.

Lefflbine, a transfer from Division I Sacred Heart, has now thrown for 13 scoring strikes this season. He added 23 yards on the ground on Saturday to keep the RPI defenders off-balance.

One of the few offensive high spots for RPI was kicker Andrew Franks. He booted a 43-yard field goal in the first quarter to give the Engineers a 3-0 lead. It was Franks' 31st field goal of his career at RPI, tying Matt Verenini of Averill Park for most. Verenini set the standard in 2003.

Franks' field goal came on the only extended possession for the Engineers in the first quarter. Even before Avery was forced to leave the game, RPI seemed to become unglued when it fumbled the kickoff after the Saints had tied the game at 3. St. Lawrence quickly scored a touchdown and dominated offensively for most of the remainder of the game.

RPI didn't complete it's first pass until halfway through the second quarter. It stayed that way until the final minutes.